Janie

The character Janie from Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God" seems to have most pleasure in her life when most people would be depressed, and that's when her husband Jody dies. This sudden joy would appear to an outsider as harsh considering she's now a widow, but Janie has always done what appeared to be the right choice in her life which originally was to marry Logan Killicks because her grandmother told her he provided the best opportunities for her. When Janie meets another guy named Jody Starks, he tells her about these opportunities she will have with him if they were married. While Janie is already on the ropes with loving Logan and adjusting to his recent change of personality, Logan pushes her away by trying to hurt her feelings just as she did his by insulting Janie and her family. While married to Jody, just like Logan did, Jody changed his personality and tried to change Janie along with him, but in spirit. Jody, who's nearly 2 decade's older than Janie always demoralized her by insulting her age and even gave her a hard time when she screwed up an order at the store they owned. When Janie finally stood up to Jody, which was about 15 years later, in public, he struck her. With Janie having a hard time as it was enjoying her life being guided all the time, I was glad to see she was finally in a happy state. I was also impressed Hurston was able to create such a unique character like Janie that could reflect off of herself. When Hurston was in college she worked for a woman named Mrs. Mason, who was controlling and could have gave Hurston a central hate for the battle for control. Much like Janie, Hurston is a powerful character who gained their own control at the end.